Can We Take a Joke?

2016 • 74 minutes

About this movie

In the age of social media, nearly every day brings a new eruption of outrage. While people have always found something to be offended by, their ability to organize a groundswell of opposition to – and public censure of – their offender has never been more powerful. Today we’re all one clumsy joke away from public ruin. Can We Take A Joke? offers a thought-provoking and wry exploration of outrage culture through the lens of stand-up comedy, with notables like Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Lisa Lampanelli, and Adam Carolla detailing its stifling impact on comedy and the exchange of ideas. What will future will be like if we can’t learn how to take a joke?

Ratings and reviews

Can We Take a Joke explores the zeitgeist of offending people and moral outrage caused by free speech and especially, humor. Having grown up when "political correctness" became the norm on college campuses, it's slightly terrifying to see just how far that movement has gone to censor free thought and expression. There are a few moments of clunky editing in CWTAJ (an aborted segment on Stephen Colbert's "Ching Chong" joke is stuffed into another piece and really goes nowhere) and the documentary sometimes teeters into becoming more about Lenny Bruce than anything else but, overall, I'd recommend it.

This film is very insightful to the world we live in now and should be watched widely. It's very important that things like this we talked about and not shoved away quietly as our rights are also quietly Stripped Away

Good Film With everything going on in comedy and college campus and free speech in general, it was nice to hear from some comics on their POV and give another side of the discussion. Not boring, it keeps a good pace for a documentary and held my attention, editors did a good job with the film. Learned a lot I didn't know as well.